What are some of the interactive features you can embed in a wiki?
"Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas. Like language itself, a technology predisposes us to favor and value certain perspectives and accomplishments and to subordinate others.Every technology has a philosophy, which is given expression in how the technology makes people use their minds, in how it codifies the world, in which of our senses it amplifies, in which of our emotional and intellectual tendencies it disregards"(Postman, 1996, p. 224).
Audio
Embed audio files in the target language to support students with special needs, strengthen listening skills, and focus students' attention on pronunciation.
Bookmarks
Provide students with current resources by using the Bookmark feature to import a continually updated list of the websites you have recently bookmarked on a particular topic.
You can also embed bookmarks in other formats using widgets.
Calendars
Provide up-to-the minute listings of assignments using the embed calendar feature.You can also set up interactive sub-calendars that allow students to sign up for class presentations, etc.
Chat
You can hold "virtual office hours" by explaining to students that you will be available to respond to questions via an embedded chat window during certain days and times, or ask two to four students to volunteer to serve as "homework helpers" each night. If no one shows up for a help session, they can chat with one another in the target language for extra practice.
Discussion
Encourage students to participate in discussions about important ideas by embedding a discussion forum directly on the page.
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Files
Make PowerPoint presentations, practice worksheets, spreadsheets, and study guides readily available to students.
Images
Use images to engage students in talking, thinking, and writing about the target culture and as tools for mediating cognition.
Links
Provide students with easy access to resources by linking web pages with relevant resources to your wiki.
Help students learn more about who is reading their work and what is of interest to their audience using tools like these.
Students can also create their own mashupscontaining photos and information relevant to the content, target countries, and cultures they are studying.
Music
Create playlists of music from the target language related to the content your classes are studying and embed them directly into the wiki.This is a great way to encourage students to use the language and culture beyond the classroom for personal pleasure while simultaneously improving their listening skills.
Navigation Buttons
Embed navigation buttons (by inserting images and linking them to the pages to which you want them to point) to guide students interaction with various pages of the wiki.
RSS Feeds
Using the RSS feature of the wiki, you can set up individual pages to "collect" updated content from discussion forums on other wikis, news feeds, etc., that will be useful to students, such as this feed from the Language Learning and the Social Web blog, or WikiNews (a great example of citizen journalism).
Read Language Learning Language learning and the social web - a beginners' guide for language teachers
Assess students' understanding and provide them with opportunities to give feedbackabout an activity or lesson using the wiki's survey tools.
Tag Clouds
If you and students are conscientious about tagging your pages, the tags will provide a useful concept map of the content of the wiki, as well as a clickable index to key topics.
Table of Contents
What are some of the interactive features you can embed in a wiki?
"Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas. Like language itself, a technology predisposes us to favor and value certain perspectives and accomplishments and to subordinate others. Every technology has a philosophy, which is given expression in how the technology makes people use their minds, in how it codifies the world, in which of our senses it amplifies, in which of our emotional and intellectual tendencies it disregards" (Postman, 1996, p. 224).
Audio
Embed audio files in the target language to support students with special needs, strengthen listening skills, and focus students' attention on pronunciation.
Bookmarks
Provide students with current resources by using the Bookmark feature to import a continually updated list of the websites you have recently bookmarked on a particular topic.
You can also embed bookmarks in other formats using widgets.
Calendars
Provide up-to-the minute listings of assignments using the embed calendar feature. You can also set up interactive sub-calendars that allow students to sign up for class presentations, etc.
Chat
You can hold "virtual office hours" by explaining to students that you will be available to respond to questions via an embedded chat window during certain days and times, or ask two to four students to volunteer to serve as "homework helpers" each night. If no one shows up for a help session, they can chat with one another in the target language for extra practice.
Discussion
Encourage students to participate in discussions about important ideas by embedding a discussion forum directly on the page.
Files
Make PowerPoint presentations, practice worksheets, spreadsheets, and study guides readily available to students.
Images
Use images to engage students in talking, thinking, and writing about the target culture and as tools for mediating cognition.
Links
Provide students with easy access to resources by linking web pages with relevant resources to your wiki.
The Whats, Whys, & Hows of Wikis in World Language Education
Maps
Help students learn more about who is reading their work and what is of interest to their audience using tools like these.
Students can also create their own mashups containing photos and information relevant to the content, target countries, and cultures they are studying.
Music
Create playlists of music from the target language related to the content your classes are studying and embed them directly into the wiki. This is a great way to encourage students to use the language and culture beyond the classroom for personal pleasure while simultaneously improving their listening skills.
Navigation Buttons
Embed navigation buttons (by inserting images and linking them to the pages to which you want them to point) to guide students interaction with various pages of the wiki.
RSS Feeds
Using the RSS feature of the wiki, you can set up individual pages to "collect" updated content from discussion forums on other wikis, news feeds, etc., that will be useful to students, such as this feed from the Language Learning and the Social Web blog, or WikiNews (a great example of citizen journalism).
Read Language Learning
Language learning and the social web - a beginners' guide for language teachers
Read WikiNews
Surveys
Assess students' understanding and provide them with opportunities to give feedback about an activity or lesson using the wiki's survey tools.
Tag Clouds
If you and students are conscientious about tagging your pages, the tags will provide a useful concept map of the content of the wiki, as well as a clickable index to key topics.
Video
This video demonstrates just one way students can begin to use the language for their own creative purposes, even with a limited vocabulary.
References
Free Buttons. (n.d.). Blur metal. Freebuttons.com. Retrieved March 17, 2008, from http://www.freebuttons.com/index.php?page=freebuttons&buttonName=BlurMetal&color=3
Postman, Neil. (1996). The end of education: Redefining the value of school. NY: Vintage Books.